I 've allus foun' 'em, I allow, sence then About ez good for talkin' to ez men; They 'll take edvice, like other folks, to keep, (To use it 'ould be holdin' on 't tu cheap,) They listen wal, don' kick up when you scold 'em, An' ef they 've tongues, hev sense enough to hold 'em; Though th' ain't no denger we shall loose the breed, I gin'lly keep a score or so for seed, An' when my sappiness gits spry in spring So 's 't my tongue itches to run on full swing, I fin' 'em ready-planted in March-meetin', Warm ez a lyceum-audience in their greetin', An' pleased to hear my spoutin' frum the fence,-- Comin', ez 't doos, entirely free 'f expense. This year I made the follerin' observations Extrump'ry, like most other tri'ls o' patience, An', no reporters bein' sent express To work their abstrac's up into a mess Ez like th' oridg'nal ez a woodcut pictur' Thet chokes the life out like a boy-constrictor, I've writ 'em out, an' so avide all jeal'sies 'Twixt nonsense o' my own an' some one's else's. My feller kebbige-heads, who look so green, I vow to gracious thet ef I could dreen The world of all its hearers but jest you, 'T would leave 'bout all tha' is wuth talkin' to, An' you, my venerable frien's, thet show Upon your crowns a sprinklin' o' March snow, Ez ef mild Time had christened every sense For wisdom's church o' second innocence, Nut Age's winter, no, no sech a thing, But jest a kin' o' slippin'-back o' spring,-- We 've gathered here, ez ushle, to decide Which is the Lord's an' which is Satan's side, Coz all the good or evil thet can heppen Is 'long o' which on 'em you choose for Cappen.